4/08/2008 @ 3:00PM

The Billionaire Bachelors

There are 110 single men on Forbes’ 2008 list of the world’s richest people.

The youngest? Mark Zuckerberg, 23. He founded social networking site Facebook while he was a student at Harvard. With nearly 70 million active users, the site is booming in popularity and its value soaring. Facebook pushed Zuckerberg’s net worth to $1.5 billion this year.

Also young and exceptionally wealthy: Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis. The German has been a billionaire since he was 18 when he inherited his family fortune. Befitting his aristocratic status, the prince lives in his family’s castle in Regensburg, Germany.

Other notable members of the billionaire bachelor club include Roustam Tariko, a Russian vodka mogul worth $3.5 billion, and Bill Clinton pal Ron Burkle, who has been single since he and his wife Janet split. (The supermarket magnate did, however, show up to a Forbes poker game with actress Kate Hudson.) (See: “High Stakes”)

Peter Thiel has never been married but has enjoyed plenty of success in Silicon Valley. The San Francisco resident co-founded online payment site PayPal in 1998, which he would later sell for $1.5 billion. He struck gold again when he became the first outside investor in Facebook. Also on his impressive resume are some world-class chess skills.

At least 197 billionaires on the list of 2008 billionaires have been divorced one or more times. The cleaving of a union is never cheap, especially when there’s huge piles of money to be split.

Just ask Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich. He separated from his second wife, Irina, last year. Since all of Abramovich’s wealth was accumulated during their marriage, Irina was entitled to up to half of his fortune under Russian law. Sources tell Forbes she won a massive $300 million settlement from her former husband.

Then there’s the likelihood of an embarrassing public spectacle. Years after Ronald Perelman’s third of four divorces, the buyout specialist was still wincing from the acrimonious legal battle that tarnished his reputation. During a trial to determine how much child support Perelman would pay to ex-wife No. 3, the multi-billionaire said he only spent about $3 a day to feed his daughter when she was with him. (See: “Billionaire Divorces Of The Century”)

It didn’t go any smoother for Perelman when he cast off wife No. 4, Hollywood celeb Ellen Barkin. Some in the press speculated that Perelman timed the filing of divorce papers to avoid a prenuptial agreement clause that would have hiked Barkin’s potential alimony. Still, some estimates put the amount the Oceans Thirteen actress received in the settlement at $60 million. Bachelors, take heed.